System Tools
by Contravene
Summary: I'm rereleasing this actual after a few edits. Its a basic story taking place in the Matrix before the movies in a general time setting. Be warned, there is graphic violence and intense moments.Thank you. Please R


System Tools  
  
Disclaimer: Welcome. This is a one chapter fan fiction that is extremely long. Think of it as a short story. This just takes place in the Matrix itself before the end of the war. It kind of depressing and beware when you read this. There is graphic violence and is almost as gory as The Second Renaissance. For readers of my other fan fictions, I've not abandoned them and have merely taken a break. I do not own the Matrix nor do I plan to claim ownership to the idea and situations already laid out by the creators. Thank you. Please review.   
  
"You're not here, are you?"  
  
The boy blinked and looked next to him. It was little boy, no older four or five. He had sandy blond hard that was short in a buzz cut. His large eyes were a deep brown that swallowed the older boy. He wore a simple white shirt and blue shorts with red sneakers.  
  
"What do you mean?" the older boy asked.  
  
"You're here, but you're not."  
  
The older boy looked in curiosity. The older boy was a basic sixteen year old, baggy grey cargo pants and stained black high tops. He wore a black tank top with a red, plaid open shirt, too faded, with the sleeves rolled up just below the elbow. The sun captured the teenager's hair in perfect lighting. It was shaggy, brown and the sun illuminated the red natural streaks. Behind shaggy bangs, his dark eyes watched in steadiness. His cheek bones were high and he had heavy eyebrows. His mouth was well defined and masculine. Three ear rings adorned in his left ear and two in his right.  
  
The older boy clenched his jaw, "What's your name kid?"  
  
"I don't have a name." the boy stated simply.  
  
"Don't bullshit me. What's your name?"   
  
The younger boy gave him a look as though her were stupid, "I don't have a name." The older boy swore under his breath and the nameless child asked, "What's your name?"  
  
"Jeremy." the teenager answered.  
  
"That's not your name." he said flatly.  
  
"Want me to show you my license?" Jeremy rolled his eyes.  
  
"Its not your name because you're not really here." the child tried to explain.  
  
"And you are?" Jeremy asked sarcastically.  
  
"No." the boy shook his head, "I'm not here either.  
  
"So you and I don't exist." the teenager confirmed.  
  
"No." the boy shook his head again, "We exist, but we don't exist here. This doesn't exist."  
  
"What the hell does that mean?"  
  
"You're missing the point."  
  
Jeremy now looked at the child more intently. Somehow, he understood what the child was saying, yet on another level, he was completely confused. During the silence, Jeremy listened as she cars raced by. From his seat on the bench at the bus stop, the wake in the air the cars left blew his bangs to rise a little. He never took his eyes off the child.   
  
"Do you understand?" the child asked.  
  
"What?" the teenager asked.  
  
"I asked if you understood."   
  
"Not really.. No."  
  
"Good."  
  
Again Jeremy was confused. What was this kid? Where did he come from. And what the hell was his problem?  
  
"Its good that you don't know. Then you'll be safe."  
  
"Safe?" Jeremy repeated, "Safe from who?"  
  
"Them."  
  
"Them? Who's 'them'?"   
  
"The watchers." the child explained.  
  
"Watchers?"  
  
"And the system."   
  
"System?" Jeremy repeated again. This wasn't a normal child. He knew that much now.  
  
"We're all apart of it. All you are is a number code and a building block." the boy explained. "We're all blocks. But when a number code is taken out of the system, holes are made. When holes are made, not all of the blocks can stay up. This is problem." the child told him.  
  
Jeremy shook his head in confusion and looked around to call to the boy's parent's to come and take him. That was when he realized the boy was alone.   
  
"What are you?" Jeremy asked.  
  
"Exactly." the boy smiled. "That is the question you should ask."  
  
Jeremy blinked. He shook his head and looked to the road to see if the bus was on its way and if it was getting close.  
  
"Fucked up little kid..." he muttered, "What do you mean-"  
  
Jeremy stopped. He'd turn to face the kid to discover he was by himself. He frowned and stood up as the bus drew closer. He reached into his pocket, letting out a sigh and removed his bus pass. When the bus stopped, he picked up his black, messenger bag he used as his back pack, which had been laying next to him carelessly on the bench during his conversation with the strange child who knew too much.   
  
He boarded the bus, sliding his pass and walked to the back of the vehicle. He didn't bother taking note of anyone's appearance. He took his place and tried to ignore the world around him. The bus stuttered onto the streets and rode carefully through the city.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Jeremy... Hey Jeremy."  
  
The teenager perked his head and glanced around. He was in the middle of his computer class during fourth period. He was supposed to be doing his typing exercises but minimized the window to surf the internet randomly. Apparently, he accidentally fell asleep. He looked to see who had woken him up.   
  
To his right was the culprit. It was a girl his age with dyed purple red hair she kept cut at jaw length. Her eyes were a soft brown and her sharp face made her always appear cocky and suspicious. She wore a dark green, button up shirt with cap sleeves and left the bottom three buttons undone, revealing her naval and the bar in it. It was a fitting shirt and she wore it with a dark greyish blue pair of boot cut jeans. At the waist of the low ride jeans was a belt with parallel buckle holes for the double buckle. On her feet were black combat boots. Her nails were badly bitten and painted black. There was also a black choker around her neck with a silver cross on it.  
  
"How long was I out?" he asked her, sitting up and popping his back against the chair.  
  
"No more that ten minutes," she answered.  
  
"Great." he yawned.  
  
"Did you get any sleep last night?" she asked her friend suspiciously.  
  
"I had the dream again." he explained,  
  
"The one where you're dating Halle Barry?" she teased.  
  
"Sid, first of all, its Natalie Portman." he corrected, "And no, not that dream."  
  
"Okay, then which dream are you talking about?" Sid asked.  
  
He let out a sigh, "You know that dream I get, the one where there are those men in suits all around me? That was the dream."  
  
"The paranoia dream." she nodded.   
  
"Yes Sid, the might paranoia dream. Why do I even bother-"  
  
"Calm down Jeremy." Sid interrupted. "I was just giving you a hard time." He turned back to his monitor, the Yahoo! page still displayed. "Its really bothering you isn't it?"  
  
"I've just had a weird past few days." he shook his head, "I really shouldn't let it get to me."  
  
"What's been going on?" Sid asked, glancing back at her monitor as well. She was currently downloading music.  
  
Jeremy leaned forward to his computer, typing with his left hand and massaging his temple with his right, his elbow balanced on the desk. "Nothing much. Just... dreams."  
  
Sid gave him a weird look and shrugged it off. It was his business, not hers. The truth was, the past few days had been increasingly surreal. Its started a few weeks earlier, with the dreams. He'd often find himself in a form of asylum or psychiatric ward, in a white room with a video camera watching his every move and his every thought. He sat in the chair, chained to the floor. Three men would stand before him, each where a matching black suit, the same plain black ties, sunglasses and red brown hair with a rather noticeable receding hair line.  
  
"Do as we tell you." they would order.   
  
They would tell him to obey the world, to stay inside the box of reality they'd created for him. They told him he was like everyone else, a standard issue human with a single purpose to support the system set up before him and to take the place of whomever in the system passed it down to him. The dreams usually end with them injecting him with a strange liquid said to "keep him in line."  
  
Upon waking from his dreams, he'd find his sheets were soaked with his cold sweat and he was unable to sleep again. The first one surprised him and kept him in a daze for the following day but surpassed with rest of the next night. It happened again and then again, until he was having the dreams every night and could still see the haunting syringe in his mind. He couldn't help but look at the inside of his right elbow. There were no puncture wounds, but if there was, it'd bee too small to see. He often found his elbow red though.   
  
Recently, he could've sworn he saw the suited men in real life, walking down streets and simply disappearing without a trace. He'd boarded the morning bus with a Chinese driver, look to swipe his card and look up to see a black man at the wheel of the bus. Little things.  
  
He'd received strange Deja Vu sensations recently, as though he'd lived this before or recognized something. It was as though his senses were awakening for the very first time.   
  
It began to feel as though his dreams were the real world and this reality was an illusion. He suddenly remembered the blond boy from that morning. The nameless one.  
  
Trying to set this aside, he logged onto a website entitled Conspiracy. It was a privately owned and run website that included member areas, documents and information with pictures. The user was nameless. The entire site was dedicated to unveiling the mask authority slipped over the eyes of those who served it.   
  
"Hey, I have a new message." Jeremy commented as he logged on as soulless1771.   
  
Sid was already on the site, signed in as rebel_8678s. She moved her chair closer to his computer and looked over his shoulder. The user who sent him the message was destiny_01. Jeremy opened the message and his screen when black and the computer quieted as though it had shut off.  
  
"That the hell!" he protested, kicking the computer, "Piece of shit."  
  
"Look." Sid whispered, pointing to the screen.   
  
In green text it read one simple word: Ow.  
  
Jeremy and Sid looked at it strangely. It had written itself on the screen just after Jeremy had kicked the computer. The text began writing.  
  
It wrote slowly : The Matrix has you.  
  
"What the hell?" Sid whispered.  
  
Jeremy bit the inside of this cheek and typed: Am I here?  
  
"What?" Sid turned to him. Jeremy gave her a steady look and she closed her mouth, just accepted he knew what he was doing.  
  
The text read : No. You are in a prison.  
  
Jeremy paused, his fingers resting patiently on the home keys. Sid was watching him closely as well as the monitor.  
  
He typed : Where is the prison?  
  
In your mind.  
  
Again he paused, before responding : What do you mean?  
  
There was a pause for a moment, before once again the text wrote : The Matrix has you.  
  
Jeremy quickly typed: Who are you. He then changed his mind and retyped it as: What are you, before sending.  
  
The text said : You've asked the correct question.... but do you want the answer?  
  
"Jeremy, what's going on?" Sid whispered in his ear. His ear tickled from the sudden warm breath he'd not expected. He just shook his head.  
  
He typed: Yes.   
  
The text then typed: Turn your phone on.  
  
Jeremy frowned, confused for a moment. He then realized it meant his cellular phone. He retrieved his Nokia phone from his pocket. It had red, light up buttons and black plates with dragon written in silver in Chinese. His phone was off and he frowned, thinking it had been on the whole time. He turned it on and looked back at the screen to find it blank. Yahoo! then popped back up.  
  
"That was weird." he whispered.  
  
That was when all of the computers shut down, with the exception of Sid and Jeremy's.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Would you mind telling me what the fuck is going on!" Sid demanded at lunch.  
  
The two sat at their usual table near the back of the cafeteria, near the doorway. Sid sat with her back to the window on the opposite side of the room and Jeremy sat directly across from her. She'd just returned from the student store, holding a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos and a Pepsi. Jeremy's brown bag held his lunch. Baloney sandwich with cheese and a few giant marshmallows with a water bottle.  
  
He stared at his sandwich for long moments, his mind racing. Something strange was happening and he could sense it all around him. He could feel it piercing him.  
  
"Jeremy!"   
  
"Oh sorry." he sigh startled.  
  
"Well?" she asked, "What's going on?"  
  
"Just, I don't know. Something's wrong. I'm trying to figure out what is it." he tried to explain.  
  
"What do you mean?" Sid asked.  
  
He took in a breath, "Its like... like there's something different, something wrong with the world. A colossal flaw. I just need to find out what it is."  
  
"Its called humanity and global warming." Sid said dryly.  
  
"Be serious for once." Jeremy winced, "I'm serious Sid. I know you don't believe me but there's something wrong."  
  
"Whatever you say," she said, opening her back of chips. She immediately went to consuming them.   
  
Jeremy's eyes scanned over the cafeteria, perking his ears. All of the students went about the business casually, paying mind to only their own group. It was almost as though they were afraid to leave the safety and familiarity of the groups.  
  
For a moment, he froze in his seat. A single man in a black suit, receded hair lines with sun glasses and a wire hanging from his ear stood in the lunch room by the student store. Jeremy was mesmerized by the sight of the man and something told him, behind those glassed, the man's eyes were burning into him as well. Jeremy blinked. The man was gone. He shook his head, clearing his mind. One more, he glanced at the inside of his elbow. At first, it appeared as though nothing was disturbed about the soft white flesh. He then looked closer, right above the vein and thought he saw a pimple of some sort.  
  
He looked closer, realizing it wasn't a pimple but a very small puncture wound about the size of a needle. It was already scabbing over, but the scab was flat, not peeked like a pimple, therefore it was a puncture wound.   
  
Jeremy set down it sandwich and scraped his nail over the small scab. It was still wet, not hard, meaning it had happened recently. He couldn't help but wonder if there was any truth to his dreams. He then looked up to Sid.  
  
She was simply raising a chip to her mouth as a boy walked behind her with an empty soda, lowering it after taking a drink. Something compelled Jeremy and he grabbed the leg of Sid's chair and pulled her to him. As he did, another boy ran into the one who'd been behind Sid and he spilled his drink where Sid had been just a moment before.  
  
"Oh shit. I'm sorry." the boy apologized, "I didn't get ya'll did I?"  
  
Sid looked at him moment, still holding her chip and said, "Uh, no. Don't worry about it."  
  
The boy nodded a left the two. Jeremy's fingers were frozen around the leg of the chair. He had known the boy was going to spill his soda on Sid. Something in his mind triggered him to act and he had done so. Now he was trying to figure out how he knew. Sid then looked at him.  
  
"How'd you know?" she asked, as though she could read his mind.  
  
Jeremy shook his head and said, "Instincts I guess."  
  
"Good instincts." Sid smirked, sliding a way from him and eating her chips in quiet. Jeremy's fingers cracked and fell limp as she moved away.   
  
Jeremy swallowed, his mouth dry and looked up to the exit of the cafeteria. There again was the man in the suit, watching him and studying him. Jeremy said nothing for the remainder of the lunch period.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Chemistry was more boring than he'd expected. It was a lecture day meaning the students spent the period copying down notes projected on the board. The teacher's monotone voice wasn't very interesting either.   
  
Jeremy himself sat in the back of the classroom at a lab table. The boy who he usually shared his table with him was absent so Jeremy simply sat in solitude. He took the first two lines of notes and became so bored, he could barely keep his head up. He pulled out his pen and started drawing on the pages of his notebook.   
  
The drawing started out simple, cartoons of the chemistry teacher after a project had blown up and sketches of his favorite cartoon characters. His drawing then took a more symbolic turn, drawing the things he'd seen in his dreams. He drew the chair, wooden with chains covering it. He drew the walls around the room and the simple lamp that had hung above his head.   
  
He drew syringe with the strange clear liquid and the hand that held it. He drew the men in the suits. He drew out their profiles and soon began to draw and entire comic strip about the dream. He drew furiously, his pen possessed as it ran over the paper. He drew the boy from that morning, the bus and the boy's questions. Jeremy drew himself.  
  
He drew himself terrified as he was surrounded by the men, who were now giants. He drew himself confused while standing alone at the bus stop and finally, drew himself terrified and screaming at the syringe was injected into him. He almost screamed while he was drawing it.  
  
Jeremy was consumed by his art, almost swallowed up in their fabricated yet non-fictional scenarios. He could feel the pain, the consumption. He could see the men and their needle. The boy, the men, the syringe, the room, the chair; it all flashed in his mind like a disturbing comic strip.   
  
"Jeremy!"  
  
They were calling him. He could feel the hands closing in around him. Such fear and horrors. He could no longer bare it.  
  
"Jeremy!"  
  
They were here. They'd come for him. It was his time to leave this reality and be consumed by terrifying one. Must hide. Run. Run. Run!  
  
"Jeremy!"  
  
The boy lifted his head, the confusion and visions leaving him. The class was dead silent, looking at him. The teacher simply stared. Jeremy himself was breathing heavily. He choked twice, sweating and glanced at his terrified class mates. He frowned and then looked down at his binder. It was the drawing of him in the chair with the syringe in him. It was still a painful drawing but it was only a drawing now. It had been a reality only a moment before. He the looked to the bottom right corner and froze. He didn't remember writing it.  
  
In messy, large, hard drawn letters it read, "What is the Matrix?"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Holy shit." Sid commented, glancing at the pictures in Jeremy's notebook. The two were walking to their apartment complex after school. The sun was fading over the western mountains and the sky was orange with pink clouds. She closed it and simply looked at the black binder. She looked at him to ask him about the drawing yet remained quiet. Jeremy answered her anyway  
  
"Those dreams I've had, the kid, all of it means something," he looked at his friend, "I saw the men, or at least one of them, today at lunch. I swear, they're everywhere."  
  
Sid swallowed, "Jeremy, you're kinda freaking me out." she admitted before smiling, "But I do believe you."  
  
"That's because you believe there's hidden truth in everything," he smiled.  
  
"That's because there is." she smiled, handing him back his notebook.  
  
Jeremy smirked, sliding it back into his bag. He then became serious once more.  
  
"What is the Matrix..." he whispered. "What the fuck is the Matrix?"  
  
"Maybe its some sort of government protection program like NSA, CIA, FBI." she shrugged.  
  
"I don't think so." he shook his head, "That kid today said we're apart of a system. We're just numbers and codes."  
  
"That sounds like a computer." Sid said, thinking out loud. "Maybe its related to the net. On the net, we're all users with IP addresses which are simply identification number codes. Using these, we can be traced."  
  
"But in the tense the kid was talking in, we're all 'wired in' or 'online' at the same time and with the loss of a code, the system falls. Right now, at home, my computer is off an yours probably is too. We're not on right now and the internet system can support itself without everyone logged in. Hell, I run a website and even though I'm not online, the site is still up because the make up of the internet supports it. The internet will always be there. Everyone can log off and log back in and it will still be there." Jeremy let out a sigh.  
  
"Unless the system that supports and originally created the internet goes down. Then the internet is lost." she pointed out.  
  
"But supposedly we all have to be logged in or online. The internet doesn't require this and even if I never use the net again, the loss of my server won't effect the system at all. It seems as though all of use being a part of te system means we are some sort of power source." he shook his head, "I don't know what I'm saying. This is giving me a headache."  
  
Sid laughed as they came to the apartment complex. They walked to the gate and Jeremy punched in his code and the two walked in, waving at the man in the security booth. Jeremy's apartment was the first they came too. Sid's was back a ways and the two rarely went over there. It wasn't that Sid's place was better or worse that Jeremy's, they were just too lazy to walk to hers.  
  
They stopped at the base of the stairs leading up to Jeremy's place. They faced each other.  
  
"If you want me to, I can do a search on the net tonight. Maybe I can find out what the Matrix is or at least track destiny_01. I think he was the one behind the little show in our computer class." she shrugged.  
  
"Sure. I think I'll take a break from this Matrix stuff. Call me if you find anything though." he told her.  
  
"Not a problem," she reassured, clapping hand on his shoulder. She gave him a friendly smile before walking away towards her apartment.  
  
Jeremy watched her go and look at the staircase. He sighed and trudged up the stairs. When he got to his door, he slid his hand into his pocket and produced a key. After a small fight with the door, Jeremy opened it and entered the apartment.  
  
There was a small, tiled area he stepped onto and then there was basic beige carpeting. To the left were two black sofas, one about five feet from the wall it was facing and the other on the adjacent wall by the window. On the wall behind Jeremy and the one the sofa faced was a television set with a DVD player and VCR hooked up to it. Behind the sofa was a counter that wrapped around the kitchen area. It was made of brick with cement slabs. Back there was a refrigerator, stove, microwave and everything else a kitchen require. Stepping out of the kitchen area let to wooden, table in the "dining area." Taking an immediate right on entering the apartment lead to a room which was the office, hidden by wooden sliding doors. It was also Jeremy's room. Going straight was a hallway with a door at the end leading to the master bedroom. Taking a right along the way led to the bathroom. Turning left lead to the study.   
  
Jeremy's father was sitting on the sofa, wearing black slacks, nice shoes and a white button up shirt. His tie and coat sat next to him. The man combed back his brown hair had a thin goatee framing his mouth. His eyes were a dark brown.  
  
In the kitchen area was his mother. She wore basic blue jeans and a white shirt. She was a small woman with a sharp face and honey brown eyes. Her blond hair was teased and sat on her shoulders. Her nails were done nicely and she wore a small silver watch on her left wrist.  
  
"Jeremy! You're home!" his father smiled as he walked in, turning down the volume on the television set, "You walk with Sidney today?"  
  
"Yeah Dad." Jeremy nodded, closing the door behind him.  
  
"How is she?" his mother asked from the kitchen.  
  
"Pretty good. We'll probably hit the arcade this weekend." Jeremy shrugged, not moving from his place on the tile.  
  
"That's good." his father nodded.  
  
Jeremy forced a small smile and then went back to his basic, stone face, and walked to his door and slid it open. He was about to walk in.  
  
"How was school?" his mother asked.  
  
Jeremy closed his eyes, annoyed and answered, "It was fine Mom."  
  
"Alright. Just checking," she said as a mother said. Jeremy sighed and walked into his room and closed the door.  
  
Once in side, he turned on the lights. On the opposite wall was an old, brown sofa that faced him. It opened into a hide-a -bed, but he rarely opened it. There was a grey blanket and pillow on it from where he's slept the night before. There was a window on that wall as well, facing the parking lot and other buildings in the complex. He kept his telescope by his bed, facing the building on the other side of the lot. The telescope was directed at Sid's bedroom window. She had one as well, facing his window. He always kept his blinds open so she could see in and she did the same.  
  
On the right wall was a large desk with a raised up, black computer monitor and a desk lamp. There was also a small television set with Play Station 2 hooked up to it. His games were scattered across the floor. There was also a self on the wall with the doors he kept his stereo system on. On the left wall was another set of sliding doors, leading to his closet.  
  
The walls of the room were covered posters. He had posters of anime shows such as Chobits, Ghost in the Shell and Akira. There were also band posters such as The Ramones, Talking Heads, Yellow Card and They Might be Giants. Then there were his posters of comic book character women on his walls. There was a tall, standing black lamp by his bed that turned on when he turned on the lights.   
  
Jeremy sighed as he walked in, dropping his bag on the ground and took of his flannel shirt and threw it onto the floor. He took at seat in the chair at his computer. He stared at the turned on screen for a moment, imagining the things he'd seen on the computer at school. The message told him to turn on his phone, yet it hadn't run all day. He hadn't missed any calls and received no messages. It was strange. He set the cell phone on his desk and turned on his television.   
  
He flipped through the channels and left his television on The Twilight Zone. He paid no attention to the black and white screen and looked out his window. He saw Sid's light come and on a slid back from his desk to see her better.  
  
The walls of Sid's room were also covered in posters with her bed against the far wall, running along it with a purple spread. It was a twin bed. Her desk was on the left side of the window from Jeremy's vied. She could see a the side of the back of the monitor and a apart of her chair.   
  
Jeremy saw her toss her back onto her bed and moved across the window, raising her hands. She disappeared for a moment and Jeremy waited. When she returned, she wore a white tank top that fit her figure and was tying on a tan bandana over her head. She sat at her computer.  
  
He saw her bed over and turn it on and the screen turn on, the glow reflecting in her face. She let out a sigh and waited for it to start up, rocking back and forth in her chair. She was focused on the computer and Jeremy looked away from her to his television screen. What he though to be a crazed old lady was shouting something to a nurse about a telephone on the television. He blinked, watching the old women yelling for a moment before relaxing and looking back out his window.  
  
He could see Sid typing, glancing from screen to key board on occasion. She stopped a moment and glanced up to her window, catching him. Jeremy jerked his head back to The Twilight Zone. He then glanced back up to see her watching him. She smiled and he relaxed again, a small smile creeping across his face.  
  
Sid waved and he raised his hand to her in a short wave. She smiled again and went back to typing, keeping the smile on her lips. Jeremy couldn't erase his smile either. He touched his hand to the glass, his fingers making contact, imprinting this in his mind. He let out a sigh and rolled back to the desk to watched The Twilight Zone. The old women was sitting in her bed and the phone rang. After a few rings, the woman answered. Jeremy still heard a phone ringing though and realized it was his cellular phone.  
  
He grabbed the phone, his the talk button and raised it to his ear.  
  
"Hello?" he said. When there was no answer he said, "Hello? Hello?! Shit.."  
  
He pulled the phone away from his head and looked at it. The screen read, "One Missed Call." Jeremy let out a groan and would have to wait until whoever it was to call him back. He sighed and tossed his phone onto the sofa. He looked out his window and Sid was watching him. She mouthed the word, "What?"  
  
He stood and picked up the phone and held it up to her and shrugged. Sid pushed back from the computer, understanding he missed a call. From where she sat, she shrugged as well. Jeremy let out a sigh and tossed his phone onto the couch. He then looked back out the window.  
  
Sid still sat there but was looking back to the computer screen. By the change in colors on her face, he could tell it was producing results for her. Jeremy tucked his right arm under him and clamped his left arm over his, hugging it to his ribs. He leaned against the window frame and watched Sid with some comfort. After a moment, she looked up, startled to see him watching her. With a blush, she gave him another short wave.  
  
Jeremy looked down, blushing a little and smiled widely, waving back. She grinned and he laughed in embarrassment. That was when his phone range again. It rang with the old woman's on the screen. Again. He held up a finger to Sid and picked up the phone and held it to his ear in front of the window.   
  
"Hello?" Jeremy said into the receiver.  
  
"Hello Jeremy. Are you alone?" the voice was a woman's voice. It was light and soft, yet at the same time, hard and direct.   
  
Jeremy winced, closing his blinds and said, "Yes. Who is this."  
  
"This is your destiny." she told him smoothly.  
  
"Destiny... destiny_01? From Conspiracy?" he asked into the phone.  
  
"Yes. They're coming for you." her voice hummed in his ear.  
  
"They? Who's they?" he asked, "The watchers?"  
  
"Very good. You know who they are. You've seen them. The men in suits?" he hinted. Jeremy could feel his eyes go wide and the woman said, "The Matrix has you."  
  
"What's the Matrix?" Jeremy demanded, "What is it!"  
  
"It's a prison. I'll explain more later but now, I need to help you get out. They're almost there!" the woman was still calm yet he could tell she was worried.   
  
Jeremy glanced around his room and opened the blinds again. Sid was at her window, watching him, scared for him. He didn't pay attention to her and looked out to the grassy landscaping a floor below his window. He swallowed and watched the parking lot for cars. That was when he heard a knock on the front door. He could hear the woman's breath through the phone and stood by his doors. He heard the front door open and his mother greet the person at the door.  
  
"Hello. Can we help you?"she asked.  
  
"Yes..." the man's deep voice said, "Is Jeremy in? I'd like to speak to you about him..."  
  
"Is that them?" Jeremy asked the women on the phone.  
  
"Get out. Now!" the woman ordered. "Go to the side gate exit of the apartment complex. I'll be waiting for you there." Jeremy looked out his window, looking at Sid. He touched the glass, terrified for her, "Jeremy! Jeremy hurry up!"  
  
"What about Sid?" he asked into the phone.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Sid. She'd coming with me. If I'm in danger, so is she!" he shouted into the phone.  
  
The woman paused. "It may be too late. We can come back for her."  
  
"No! We're getting her now!"  
  
"Jeremy!"  
  
The boy stopped, hearing the man's voice in the apartment. "Hold on a second." He turned off the phone, sliding it into his pocket. Jeremy turned off the light in his room and cracked the door open and inch.   
  
He froze. It was that man from the cafeteria. Receded hair line, dark glasses, black suit and plain black tie with a clip and the wire in his ear. Jeremy's parents were sitting still on the sofa and the man walked to them, his hands in fists. Jeremy watched in silent horror.  
  
The man put his left hand on his mother right shoulder and his right hand on his father's left shoulder. He opened his palms. It looked like there were electronic centipedes on their shoulders. They crawled around them before snaking into their ears, making a slurping noise as they entered. Jeremy screamed.  
  
He threw the door open and tackled the man to the ground, punching him in the face. He then mounted the man, punching him repeatedly. His parent's seemed to snap out of their trance at that very moment. They went into a panic at the scene.  
  
"Jeremy! Jeremy stop!" his mother screamed.  
  
Jeremy was blinded by rage now, his eyes fixed on the man in the suit. He sat on him, pounding his face, shattering his teeth. He smashed the sun glasses and cracked his skull. He pounded on the man who seemed to grin at him in terrifying delight. Jeremy kept punching and beating the man. He could feel his knuckles going raw as he did so.  
  
"Jeremy!" his mother cried.  
  
His father grabbed him and tried to pull the boy off of the grinning man, but Jeremy kept clawing and punching the man. He threw his father off of him, the man crashing into Jeremy's bedroom. He kept punching. Each punch freed him more, yet the man's eyes still burned into him and he laughed as he grinned at the teenager. This terrifying assult continued. Jeremy screaming at the man, quite literally losing his mind. Finally, Jeremy's father cracked a lamp over his head. The boy rolled away from the man and stood.  
  
"What the hell do you fucking think you're doing?!" his father screamed.  
  
"I was protecting you!" Jeremy shouted.  
  
"Protecting us!"  
  
"Oh Jeremy..." his mother sobbed.  
  
"How the hell were you protecting us by murdering your teacher!" his father screamed, slapping the boy.  
  
Jeremy froze and looked at the man on the ground. The man in the suit was no longer there. It was his chemistry teacher. His skull was cracked and glasses shattered, the clear glass stabbing into his eyes. His nose was broken and jaw twisted and mangled with this teeth laying on the ground. Blood was everywhere and the man was now unrecognizable. Jeremy looked at his blood soaked hands and the pools flowing on the carpet.  
  
Blood splattered the furniture and walls, even the faces of his parents. Jeremy swallowed, realizing he'd just murdered a human being.   
  
"No... no... he was.... oh my God.."  
  
He pushed past his father and ran into his room. He grabbed his wallet and a wad of money and a jean jacket. He pushed past his parents and ran into their bedroom his father after him.  
  
He reached into the night stand drawer as his father ran in, "Jeremy! You can't run away. Face your crimes. Your mother is calling the police! Jeremy!"  
  
The man ran to hit his son and Jeremy pulled a gun from the drawer of the night stand and held it out straight to his father. Tears and sweat soaked Jeremy's face. The blood was still on his hands and face.   
  
"Get out of my way, Dad." Jeremy said lowly. "Get out of my fucking way!"  
  
His father rose his hands and stepped back. Jeremy kept the gun aimed on him and eased back to the door. He stared hard at his mother and she hung up the phone. Jeremy was breathing heavily in his madness. He opened the front door and ran.  
  
Jeremy raced down the stairs and froze when he saw two more men in black and ran in the opposite direction towards Sid's. His phone rang.  
  
"Destiny?" he asked into the phone.  
  
"Jeremy, what the hell is going on!" Destiny shouted, "We're waiting at the gate! Where are you going?"  
  
"I'm getting Sid," he told the woman, "I'll be there in a second! Fuck.. I just killed a guy!"  
  
"Get over it Jeremy. Hurry up!"  
  
Jeremy turned off his phone and shoved it in his pocket as she ran to Sid's apartment. As he got to the stairs, he glanced into her window. She was watching him, but then turned and screamed as one of the men came from the left. The two disappeared. Jeremy raced up the stairs. He tried to front door but it was locked.  
  
"Sid!" he screamed, hitting the door. He could hear her terrified screams inside. "Sid!"  
  
He took a step back and fired the gun, breaking the lock and busted into the apartment. All of the lights were off. He froze. Sid's mother was on the floor. She had long black hair and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a platinum blouse and black skirt. Blood stained the floor around her, her throat slit. There was pounding in Sid's room.   
  
"Sid! Jeremy shouted, running to the door.  
  
"Jeremy! Jeremy!" she kept screaming through the door. The boy never heard such horrible screams as those which were made by Sid.  
  
Jeremy opened the door and Sid fell, out, crying. He caught her with his left arm and pulled his friend to him. She hugged him sobbing. Jeremy looked up to see the man in the suit standing there, the one he had just killed. The man smiled and Jeremy clamped his left hand over Sid's ear. He raised the gun and fired, hitting the man between the eye balls. The man fell back into the darkness of the room, dead.  
  
Jeremy dropped her gun and hugged Sid, the two sliding to their knees. She kept crying. Jeremy loosened and looked her dead in the eyes.  
  
"Sid, I found some answers," he told her, holding her face, "Destiny is waiting at the side gate. I want you to go down to the garage and go there. She'll be waiting for you."  
  
"Aren't you coming?" she asked.  
  
"I'll be there in a minute." he told her. He kissed her forehead and then her lips quickly and gave her a hug, "Now go."  
  
Sid nodded and ran down the hall and opened a door that lead to the garage below the apartment. She disappeared into the darkness for a moment. Jeremy let out a sigh and leaned his head back against the couch. He then bent over a vomited.  
  
Sid's scream broke the silence and Jeremy raised his head and looked to the door to the garage. He stood, picking up the gun just in case. It was the man in black again, the same man he'd killed twice. Jeremy blinked slowly, realizing this man must've killed Sid.  
  
The man ran at Jeremy and the boy raised the gun once more and screamed, "Die fucker!"  
  
Two shots rang through the air. The man stumbled, losing strength and fell, hitting Jeremy. Jeremy fell back and hit the back of the sofa. He let out a sigh and looked down at the body around his waist. It was Sid.  
  
"No.. no..." Jeremy sobbed. "No!"  
  
He pulled up her limp body and hugged her to him, crying. He sobbed like a two year old, kissing her dead face and holding her tightly. He just cried and let her body go. There were two holes in her stomach. He put her down and stood in the door way of her bedroom.   
  
The pain, the guilt all consumed him. His phone was ringing but he didn't answer it. He knew it was destiny calling. He could hear the approaching sirens and knew he had no choice. Jeremy lifted the gun one last time and put it to his temple and pulled the trigger.  
  
Okay. That's my story. Its depressing and sad, yet there's a deeper meaning to it I hope you see. I know the ending is kinda confusing but just let it sink in. I hope this wasn't too traumatizing and I'm even surprised I was able to write it. Please review and tell me what you think of it. Thank you. 


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